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Kelegama lauds Weerakkody’s contributionto public’s understanding of complex issues

Published : 12:00 am July 8, 2013 | 867 views | No comments so far | | E-mail to

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Following is the address delivered by Institute of Policy Studies Executive Director SamanKelegama at the launch of the book ‘In the Best Interest of my Country’ by Dinesh Weerakkodyat the Institute of Chartered Accountants Auditorium on 3 July.

‘In the Best Interest of my Country’ is the fourth volume of Dinesh Weerakkody based on hisregular columns in the print media. Starting in 1990 with the first volume, he proceeded to bringout the second volume in 1993 and the third in 1996. Hence it is after a lapse of 16 years that weare seeing the fourth volume.

Dinesh has an inborn talent to write and share his ideas with the greater public. This publicationunfolds his commitment to provide insights to many important national issues, ranging from

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 politics and economics to management and other disciplines. It also reflects his desire to sharehis academic and business experiences to assist his fellow professionals and upcoming professionals in their own drive to deliver greater value for their organisation.The book is broadly divided into three parts, viz., Economics and Business – 54 articles; Political – 44 articles, Human Resource and Management – 100 articles. These are supplemented by 51

interviews also given in the book. I am afraid, I have not had the benefit of reading the entire book and was able to read only a few essays that are of interest to me and the followingcommentary is based on this reading.Economy First, on the economy, starting from the post-war optimism the author outlines cases which havestrengthened as well as diluted this optimism. The post-conflict economic vision, politicalstability, and drive for infrastructure development and urban modernisation have been identifiedas the key factors that have strengthened the optimism. On the other hand, the author highlightsareas where this optimism has been diluted such as the regulatory failures of some institutions,failures in economic diplomacy, loss of GSP-plus in 2010, introducing the Expropriation Bill inend 2011, etc. Essays on these topics stand on their own in the book.

There is quite a lot of emphasis on good governance, accountability, and maintainingtransparency in dealings of both the government and the private sector. Strong institutions arevery necessary to ensure good governance. When institutions are made weaker, the space fordiscretion increases and thus the room for corruption increases. The author says that civil societyorganisations have to play a crucial role to exert pressure on the government to ensure bettergovernance. The author argues that it is the image of good governance that will facilitate SriLanka to reap the post-war peace dividend more effectively.

SMEs and CSR There are a number of essays on the private sector. Two essays that I would like to comment onare, one on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), and the other on Corporate Social

Responsibility or CSR. After highlighting the importance of the SMEs to the economy, theauthor argues that despite numerous measures taken by the government to support SMEs, accessto finance still remains a problem.This fact assumes greater relevance because it is highlighted by the author being a Chairman aswell as a Board member of a leading commercial bank in Sri Lanka. To quote from this essay:“The absence of collateral arrangement and lack of reliable credit information on SMEs havemade it difficult for lenders to be able to assess risk premiums properly, creating differences inthe perceived versus real risk profiles of SMEs” (P.146). Needless to say, the author is spot on inhis analysis of this particular SME issue.On Corporate Social Responsibility, the author says that corporates have to take a medium tolong-term view on CSR and should not use CSR as a smokescreen to cover up corporate greed.The author argues that CSR is all about corporate culture – a culture that understands integrityand responsibility towards its employees, consumers and communities, and it has to come fromthe very top of a corporate entity. The corporate culture, he says, should be all about sustainable business practices with regard to the environment and the way they engage with the communityto preserve that environment.The author links his analysis of the private sector to the modern technological advancements andthe rapid development of social media. The author says that business technology such as videoconferencing, social networks, and virtual office technology has removed workplace boundaries

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that previously limited business expansion.Companies can now target a wider customer base and grow to higher levels. Those businessesthat loathe embracing social media will realise that they will have to get in or be left behind forgood. He argues that in the next five years, the internet would radically change the way businessis done, socialise, and share information which in turn would contribute to higher output and

economic growth. This must be recognised by both business and the government, says theauthor.Human Resource and Management The author is at his best in the Human Resource and Management section of the book – perhapsthe section that best reflects the author’s expertise. He provides a number of useful ideas for the private sector with topics ranging from Trade Unions, employment practices, skills development,finding the right people, safety at work place, productivity, labour administration, and so on.Political part On the Political part, two essays caught my attention. One is a critique on the growing politicisation of the appointments of Sri Lankan representatives overseas titled ‘What it WillTake to Heal Lankan Diplomacy?’ and the other is a critical analysis on the increasing role of the

government in the economy titled ‘Government should Rethink the Proposed Takeover Bill’.I quote from the first essay: “…we have a history of both major parties using the Foreign Serviceto give jobs for the boys” and “Often the political appointees have heavily outnumbered careerdiplomats” and the author goes on to argue the case for a more technocratic approach forselecting people to represent Sri Lanka to more effectively market the country overseas.In the second essay, the author while arguing the dangers of the Takeover Bill highlights the basic problems with the politicians: “Governments usually fail in business because politiciansnot business executives run governments. Politicians are good at taking political decisions, noteconomic ones. They are, after all, first and foremost in the re-election business and generallythrive where ideology and … rhetoric take over the business of governance. Because of the needto be re-elected, politicians are always likely to have a short-term bias. What looks good rightnow is more important to politicians than long-term consequences, even when thoseconsequences can be easily foreseen. Most politicians therefore tend to favour parochial interestsover sound economic sense.” The author goes on to state: “While markets will always dealefficiently with shortages and gluts, politicians need headlines; [but] letting the market workdoesn’t produce favourable headlines [for politicians] and, indeed, often produces the opposite.”Hence the politicians like to interfere with the market to suit their own agendas. Of course, politicians will not like to hear what the author says but then the author is entitled to his ownopinions and to which the majority of the public will most probably agree.Global issues Finally, a comment is necessary on the essays on global issues and relevance for Sri Lanka.Some of these essays are under the Economic and Business section and others under the Politicalsection of the book. We are now living in the Asian Century – the rise of China and Indiatogether with East and North-East Asia will make this the Asian Century. The author says thatwe must therefore create the initial conditions to reap the opportunities from the re-emergence ofAsia. This is all the more important because the war victory in Sri Lanka coincided with theglobal recession, which in turn means that the peace dividend has to be reaped when Sri Lanka’smajor export markets are in recession. Fortunately, the shift in global growth centres to Asia hasalso happened during this period and thus the need to gain the early mover advantage in thegrowing Asian neighbourhood. If this is not done it will also be a missed opportunity for Sri

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Lanka. In most Asian economies, the author says, the state will remain the supreme unit of political, economic, and security affairs but will confront fundamental challenges of governancelargely from an increasingly vocal and organised public. Globalisation resulting in a greater flowof information and the diffusion of power to non-state actors of all kind, will pose challenges tothe authority of virtually all governments. Thus once again the author highlights the need for

good governance and accountability in government affairs from a global perspective.Two noteworthy aspects There are two aspects that are noteworthy in regard to the author’s ideology and beliefs. First, theauthor has profound faith in the market economy and the private sector as the engine of growth.Thus, he is not afraid to clearly articulate his views along this line of thinking. Second, hestrongly believes that good governance is essential to reap the best of the market economy andhere he emphasises the need for regulatory frameworks and strong institutions to ensure thenecessary checks and balances which in turn will make the market address equity and sustainableissues.There are noteworthy features of selection and style. He has made it a point to comment oncontemporary issues at the time of writing – this can be clearly seen when comparing the date of

the article and the topic dealt with. In regard to style, when critiques are presented it is doneusing existing theoretical literature, in a constructive manner, with a positive spin, and with adegree of diplomacy. Individuals and groups are left out and criticisms revolve around policy.A good journalist, they say, is akin to a priest who has to intervene between god and the people.The journalist has to interpret the profound knowledge of the almighty in simple language andconvey knowledge to a large number of people. This becomes an uphill task when that journalism is in social science and management issues. In this volume, Dinesh Weerakkody has played this role with consummate skill and made a significant contribution to the public’sunderstanding of complex issues. From the size of this volume and the previous three volumes, itis clear that the author has an enormous passion to write and reach out to the wider public andengage them in a dialogue or allow them to reflect on contemporary issues. He retainsconfidence in the art of persuasion and in the ultimate victory of reason over unreason. He passionately believes that changes could be brought about in the economy and society by making people to think differently. To do this, he says, you need not be a Barack Obama or a NelsonMandela, ordinary people like you and me could do it via the print media. Dinesh will certainlykeep on writing, for that is his passion and we look forward to reading his 5th Volume in the nearfuture.